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Blues Special – Strat

Blues Specials are our second best selling set. They are a great choice for any musician who wants thicker-sounding single note soloing and and more crunch in their chord playing. Blues Specials are 5% darker and thicker than our Vintage Hot Pickups.

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BLUES SPECIALS: THE PERFECT BALANCE BETWEEN WARM AND BRIGHT

The Blues Special set of Single Coil Pickups is our second best-selling single coil set. Musicians looking for a thick, warm, and beefier sound will love the sound of Blues Special pickups. Blues Specials are wound with 5% more coil, which is 5% hotter than our Vintage Hot pickups. Our Blues Specials are perfect for anyone trying to balance out a bright-sounding guitar, or who want a beefier single-coil sound without sounding dark.

SOUND:

When playing clean, Blues Specials sound thick and rich, especially in the lows and mids. Additionally, Blues Specials sound very open and clear without sounding too compressed. The 5% overwound coil gives the player 5% less highs and 5% more mids than the Vintage Hot Pickups. With distortion, the tone cuts through and while being slightly compressed and thick with a low-end growl and a medium attack. Single notes sound thick and round, while chords have a full tone with an early breakup. This pickup sounds powerful and bold – a great way to take your guitar’s tone to the next level.

FEATURES:

5% more coil than our Vintage Hots: 5% more output and mids, 5% less highs

Perfect for anyone looking for a bold-sounding pickup to balance out a bright guitar

CHOOSING THE PICKUP:

Our Complete Set is our best-selling option. It has a slightly hotter bridge to compensate for the brightness near the bridge. If you’re buying a single pickup, please see the box below describing the information we need to get you the correct polarity information.

CHOOSING THE MAGNET STAGGER:

TECHNICAL INFORMATION:

Hand wound with 42 gauge wire, beveled AlNiCo V magnets and cloth leads. We recommend using 250K pots with Blues Special Pickups. Our Blues Special Pickups are based on a modified version of 50’s specifications, The bridge pickup is just hot enough to have the same output as the neck and middle pickups.

Note Before Purchase:

If buying a set of Blues Special Strat Pickups, you will get a Reverse Middle pickup. If buying singles, you might have an issue matching our pickup to yours due to Magnet Polarity and Coil Direction Polarity.Please check to see before ordering, and if you have any special requirements, simply add them to the “Notes” field upon Checkout. See below for Polarity information.

Magnet Polarity

At Fralin Pickups, we always Magnetize our Neck and Bridge coils South to strings and our Reverse Middle North to strings.

Coil Direction Polarity

Our Coil Direction Polarity always uses a White cloth lead for the Outside Coil and a Black ground lead for the Inside Coil. The Reverse Middle pickup will have opposite Coil Direction Polarity than the Neck and Bridge. See the image below for clarification:

The overall phase of a pickup is the combination of coil direction and magnet polarity. When the pickups are out of phase, some of the midrange is cancelled, making the pickups sound weak and hollow. If the pickups are bought as a set this won’t happen, but if you are mixing pickups it can. If buying just a single pickup, take a minute to make sure you’re purchasing the right polarity. If you need additional help, give us a call before purchase and we can help you get the right one.

CUSTOM REQUIREMENTS:

At Fralin Pickups, we are a total and complete custom shop. Need something specific? Upon checkout, use the “Notes” field to write anything you want!

Location

Complete Set, Bridge, Middle, Neck

Magnet Stagger

Stock, Hybrid (for flatter radius necks)

Pickup Cover Color

Green, Yellow (Aged-White), Black, White

Cover Dimensions

2.725″ L x .700″ W x .52″ H

4 reviews for Blues Special – Strat

5 out of 5

Bob – October 20, 2016:

Just amazing and articulate. Crunchy when necessary.

I have a custom shop 57 relic w hand wound Josefina pickups that was just harsh. Put these in and really made the guitar sing. Only mellowed a bit, still surprisingly quacky and the treble is still there when I need it.

You can’t go wrong.

5 out of 5

Scott Dale – November 1, 2016:

I put these in my Am Std 2005 Strat and absolutely love them. They are super clear and full with no imbalance of frequencies anywhere. I would not call them super fat, just full with plenty of sparkle without being ice picky. They obviously play clean tones perfectly but the way they overdrive my Deluxe Reverb is super smooth and creamy. I got the base plate for the bridge pickup which does exactly what Lindy says it is supposed to do. That may be why my strat does not get too overly bright on that pickup like it did with the Fender pickups that came on it. I also have some Fender CS Fat 50’s on a similar axe and they are definitely fatter and a little louder but less articulate that these Blues Specials. You can really tell the quality difference in a boutique hand-wound Fralin and a mass produced Fender pickup, and the price difference is negligible. I highly recommend these pickups and the customer service you get when you call Lindy is second to none. Good luck calling up Leo Fender and chatting about your pickups :)). I also got the blender wiring kit and that is very useful as well and I ended up putting one in both my strats.

5 out of 5

John R(verified owner) – November 3, 2016:

I have a MIM Strat, not a terribly expensive guitar, but nice. I had replaced the stock pickups with a set from another company – not what I would call “top-shelf” but decent, and it was definitely an improvement over the originals.
I wanted to further improve the sound, and someone recommended that I try a set of Lindy Fralin’s. I wondered if the increased cost could be justified since these pickups cost almost as much as the guitar! And would I hear much of an difference compared the pups they replaced, which were not bad.
To my amazement, the answer to both questions is yes! There is a musical quality to these pickups that is hard to explain. As soon as I plugged into my amp, it was obvious. My Strat sounded like many recordings we’ve all heard, as opposed to a cheap guitar off the rack at GC (no offense).
I think these pickups are worth every penny, it was money well spent, and I have no regrets.

5 out of 5

Eric(verified owner) – November 14, 2016:

Fantastic pickups. Replaced a set of texas specials in an alder body strat. More bite, way more character. Love em. Great customer service as well. Much appreciated.